Multiple continuous business forms



1965 J. B. KNUDSEN MULTIPLE CONTINUOUS BUSINESS FORMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 23 1964 INVENTOR 0 0 o o o o o o o 0 on o o o o o o o o o o o o o u o o OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUOQOOOOOOOOSQO OOOOOOOOOOOFOOOOO 0% 0.690 Q o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o 0 0 o o o o o o o mo 0 o o o o o 0 ATTORNEYS 1965 J. B. KNUDSEN MULTIPLE QCONTINUOUS BUSINESS FORMS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 23 1964 INVENTOR lll llllllll|lllllllllkllll| i 1.1!!!! llliii. CIIULVNJIIIIAI ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ice 3 218,092 MULTIPLE CONTIDIUOUS BUSINESS FGRMS James B. Knudsen, Lewiston, N.Y., assignor t Moore Business Forms, Inc., Niagara Falls, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Apr. 23, 1964, Ser. No. 362,083 Claims. (Cl. 282-29) This invention relates to continuous multiple business forms and particularly to means for connecting the tail end of a preceding multiple strip or Web of forms to the head end of a following web, for facilitating and expediting the passage of webs through a business machine.

The principal object of the invention is to provide novel and improved web end connections which are sturdy and effective and which protect the webs, even the head end of the following web, against snagging and tearing, when fed at a rapid rate through feeding mechanisms or through an operative machine.

Other objects and features of novelty, including the provision of a novel splicing element as an article of manufacture, will be apparent from the following specification when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which one embodiment of the invention is illustrated by way of example.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the coupled ends of two adjacent strips or webs of business forms embodying the principles of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view in perspective of the splicing element employed in joining the web ends;

FIGURE 3 is a somewhat diagrammatic view in longitudinal section through the line of feed holes at either margin of the webs, and showing the tail end of the advance web of multiple forms equipped with the novel splicing element, and the head end of the following end about to be coupled, all on a greatly enlarged scale;

FIGURE 4 is a similarly exaggerated view showing the completely spliced webs;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary plan view of one end of the splicing element; and

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view of the element taken on line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

In the processing of forms in high-speed printers or machines of similar nature, it is desirable to splice the tail ends of a strip or web of forms being passed through the machine to the head end of the next strip of forms, so that there is no interruption in the operation of such highspeed, high-production, and high-cost office equipment. The present invention supplies a splicing element or clip which, although preferably mainly composed of stronger and somewhat stiffer material than the paper of which the web is comprised, is sufficiently flexible to present no obstacle to the passage through the relatively thin and tortuous clearances of such machines.

Perhaps the best approach to a detail disclosure of the invention would be by way of describing the splicing element or clip which is illustrated to best advantage in FIGURE 2 of the drawings. The clip itself is given the general reference character 10 and comprises a base sheet 11 which is preferably made of a material relatively stiffer than the paper of which the webs or strips are formed.

As an example of the material of which the base sheet may be formed may be mentioned the plastic manufactured by Du Pont under the trademark Mylar which is represented to be a highly durable, transparent, waterrepellent polyethylene terephthalate resin, characterized by outstanding strength, electrical properties and chemical inertness, usable at temperatures from 60 to 150 C. because of its inherent thermal stability, and most available in thicknesses of from about 0.00025" to Patented Nov. 16, 1965 0.0075. Of course, other plastic or strong flexible sheeting material can be used to advantage.

The lateral dimensions of the splicing element are of course approximately those of the webs with which it is associated, and the longitudinal extent in the direction of feed of the web may conveniently be in the neighborhood of one inch, the criterion being a width sufficient to bridge the end feed holes of the associated webs.

Superposed upon the base sheet 11 is an upper sheet 12 preferably of the same area as the sheet 11 but pref erably provided with a central crease or scored line 13. The half area of the upper sheet 12 indicated at 14 is adhesively secured to the corresponding half face of the lower sheet 11 preferably throughout the transverse width of the device as indicated at 15. The other half of the upper sheet 12 designated 16 is free of adhesion to the lower sheet 11, and the whole element presents a substantially Y-shaped configuration in cross-section,

Coinciding with the center-to-center spacing of adjacent feed holes of the webs are the holes 18 and 19 of the paper sheet 12, and the punched-out tongues 20 and 21 of the lower stiffer sheet 11.

Reference to FIGURES 5 and 6 will clarify the actual structure of the operative ends of the clips or splicing elements, where the upper paper sheet portion 12 is broken away at the extreme end of the device to better disclose the punched-out tongues 20 and 21 carried by the lower sheet 11. The tongues 20 and 21 are formed by a punch device of incomplete circular extent leaving a neck or hinge portion 24 in each instance. A non-exclusive suggestive diameter for the punched tongue is 0.187" with a 0.047" tie. Since the form feed holes are usually of 0.156" diameter and the tongues are of 0.187" diameter and made of stiffer material than the material of the forms, the forced distorting passage of the tongues 20 and 21 through the feed holes of the webs and subsequent resumption of full diameter, provides good interlocking adherence for the hang-on clip or splicing element with respect to the web.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, and assuming that the webs are to move in the direction of the arrows, the tail end portion of the advance web is indicated at 25 and the head end portion of the following web is designated 26. The clip 10 is shown in web connecting position where the tongues coincide with the final feed holes 23 of the web end 25 and the first of the feed holes 20 of the following web 26.

The connecting structures and the manner of splicing the webs may best be described in connection with FIG- URES 3 and 4 of the drawings. In FIGURE 3, the hang-on clip or splicing element 10 is shown with its glued end portion (the stem of the Y) inserted above the bottom sheet or layer 30 of the multiple web 25, the remaining bundle of sheets 31 of the web 25 lying above this doubled glued half of the clip 10. The prong or tongue 20 is bent from the stiffer bottom layer 11 of the element and passed first through the hole or opening 18 of the upper layer of the clip 10 and then through the openings 28 in the multiple layers 31 of the web portion 25. With such a highly magnified showing as in FIGURES 3 and 4 the actual insertion of the tongue 20 through the several layers of materials is some what distorted, and it will be recognized that with the relatively thin sheets used in these multiple forms, the rounded wider portion of the tongue 20 will pass completely through the multiple openings 28 and expand to its normal width above the multiple web 25 and thus securely lock the splicing element to the advance web.

Although this process of attachment of the splicing element to the tail end 25 of the advance web may be effected at any time, it might conveniently be applied to 3,2 was or e) the tail or trailing ends of webs of business forms at the point of manufacture, prior to shipment to the user.

Now in order to connect up with the head end 26 of the following multiple web, the wings or spreadable layers 11 and 16 of the splicing element (comprising the diverging arms of the Y) are spread apart and the entire thickness of the web end 26 is passed between then until the multiple opening 29, being the first feed hole of the web end 26, registers with the locking tongue 21 and the opening 19 of the splicing or connecting element. Then the tongue 21 is forced upwardly through the opening 29 in the web and thence through the opening 19 of the wing 16 of the upper layer of the clip and the tongue 21 is bent over the top of the clip as diagrammatically suggested in FIGURE 4.

' Finally with the parts in the position shown in 1 16- URES 1 and 4 of the drawings, it will be seen that the webs are securely interlocked, and further the interleaving of the web parts and the clip parts are such that there is provided a completely smooth and snag-free joint since all edges are completely shielded and the joint streamlined. This is ell'ected by the insertion of the forward edge of the clip between the bottom fold Sit and the upper folds 31 on the forward web 25, and the insertion of the entire web 26 between the wings 11 and 16 of the clip.

The novel splicing element 18 is readily removable and adds very little bulk to the combined thickness of the connected webs. The splicing element is easily applied with simple equipment and does not disfigure or damage the forms in use.

It is understood that various changes and modifications may be made in the embodiments illustrated and described herein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is cla med as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A continuous multiply web of manifolding forms or the like adapted for rapid and easy passage through a business machine, said web having a longitudinal series of feed holes therein at conventional feed pin spacing, the web comprising multiple layers of record sheets and transfer sheets, and including spliced lengths having their ends abutting at the splice, the longitudinal distances between the end feed holes and the ends of said respective lengths adding up to substantially the measure of the pin spacing, and a splicing clip interconnecting said ends for smooth uninterrupted feed'through such machines, said clip comprising a flexible strip of relatively slight longitudinal dimension extending transversely across the web and being substantially Y-shaped in longitudinal section; the stem of the Y-shaped clip extending forwardly of the direction of feed of the web and received between the layers of sheets comprising the forward web length, the

outermost sheets on both surfaces of said length embracing and providing streamlined protective shielding for said stem to prevent its snagging in the machine, and means for securing said stem to certain of the layers of said forward web length; and the rearward diverging arms similarly embracing and streamlining the forward edges of the multi-ply rearward following web length, and means for securing said arms to said following web 13. length, both of said two last named means being spaced apart at said conventional pin spacing and engaging said end feed holes in the respective web lengths.

2. The manifolding web as set forth in claim 1 in which the means for securing the clip parts to the respective web lengths comprise tongues punched in the stem and in at least one or" the arms of the Y-shaped clip, the tongues in said respective portions being spaced apart substantially the same distance as the normal pin spacing and longitudinally aligned with the feed holes in the web, whereby in the assembled web the tongue in the stern registers with and passes through the end feed hole in the forward web length and interlocks therewith, and the tongue in the arms of the clip registers with and passes through the end feed holes of the following web length and interlocks therewith.

3. The manifolding web as set forth in claim 2 in V which one of said arms of the Y-shapedclipris provided with said punched-out tongue and the other with an opening registering with the adjacent end feed hole of the web length and with said last named tongue, the tongue passing through said opening as well as the feed holes of the plies of the web length and interlocking therewith.

4. A splicing element for connecting adjacent ends of perforated webs of business forms or the like, said element comprising a Y-shaped structure of short longitudinal dimension but of a width approximating that of the web, the stem portion of which has at least one tongue punched therefrom adapted to extend through.

and to interlock with a perforation in one of the webs; one of the arms on the Y, comprising the remaining portions of the element, being perforated to register with a perforation in the adjacent web; and the other arm portion having a tongue punched therefrom and registering with and adapted to enter a perforation on said last named web and also the perforation in the other arm of the Y and interlock therewith, with the last named web received between the arms of the Y.

5. The element as set forth in claim 4 in which said element is of laminated construction, the base layer being of a material somewhat stifrer and stronger than the form paper and from which both of the tongues are struck, and an upper layer substantially conterminous with said lower layer and comprising paper glued to said lower layer along approximately one-half of their longitudinal extent to form the stem portion of the Y and with an opening in the glued area registering with the first named tongue of the base layer; and the paper portion of the other half comprising the perforated arm and the stiffer and stronger remaining portion comprising the arm from which said second tongue is punched.

References Qited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,118,111 11/1914 De Haven 282-29.3 2,174,753 10/1939 Lorenz 282 -29.3 2,246,655 6/1941 Bacon 156-502 X 2,964,337 12/1960 Metzner et al. 282-415 3,053,711 9/1962 Eagle et a1 l56502 EUGENE R. CAPOZIO, Primary Examiner. LAWRENCE CHARLES, Examiner. 

1. A CONTINUOUS MULTI-PLY WEB OF MANIFOLDING FORMS OR THE LIKE ADAPTED FOR RAPID AND EASY PASSAGE THROUGH A BUSINESS MACHINE, SAID WEB HAVING A LONGITUDINAL SERIES OF FEED HOLES THEREIN AT CONVENTIONAL FEED PIN SPACING, THE WEB COMPRISING MULTIPLE LAYERS OF RECORD SHEETS AND TRANSFER SHEETS, AND INCLUDING SPLICED LENGTHS HAVING THEIR ENDS ABUTTING AT THE SPLICE, THE LONGITUDINAL DISTANCES BETWEEN THE END FEED HOLES AND THE ENDS OF SAID RESPECTIVE LENGTHS ADDING UP TO SUBSTANTIALLY THE MEASURE OF THE PIN SPACING, AND A SPLICING CLIP INTERCONNECTING SAID ENDS FOR SMOOTH UNINTERRUPTED FEED THROUGH SUCH MACHINES, SAID CLIP COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE STRIP OF RELATIVELY SLIGHT LONGITUDINAL DIMENSION EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS THE WEB AND BEING SUBSTANTIALLY Y-SHAPED IN LONGITUDINAL SECTION; THE STEM OF THE Y-SHAPED CLIP EXTENDING FORWARDLY OF THE 